World Bank Group

How large is the share of public procurement to GDP in middle-income and low-income countries and how it is evolving? If sizable, can public procurement be used as a policy tool to make markets more competitive, and thus improve the quality of government services? Can it be used to induce innovation in firms? Can it also be a significant way to reduce corruption?

Students in public schools without textbooks at the start of the year. Health centers in villages without even the most basic medications. Oftentimes procurement is to blame.

An efficient procurement system isn't just a good idea, it's a necessary tool for all governments (local and national) to function properly and deliver public services.

Keeping pace with global trends, on July 1 the World Bank will roll out the new Procurement Framework for countries that procure goods and services under Bank-finance projects. The new framework will be implemented for all investment projects with a Project Concept Note on or after July 1, 2016. Led by the Global Governance Practice (GGP) with support from Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS), the framework is designed to increase flexibility, efficiency, and transparency of procurement process, to better meet the needs of client countries.

Tax administrations in developing countries are increasingly concerned about the persistent problem of loss of tax revenues to the shadow economy, and they often deploy a range of strategies to plug tax leaks and augment revenues. The erosion of the tax base prevents governments from collecting the revenue it needs to provide essential services, such as healthcare, road construction, and education. Nonetheless, it’s a sticky problem: how do you convince business owners to pay taxes?

Some possible answers, bolstered by evidence, include: simplify tax payment and provide incentives to formalize businesses. The World Bank’s Governance Global Practice will hold a conference between June 27-29 in St Petersburg, Russia, to bring together participants from almost 25 countries of the Europe and Central Asia region to discuss these issues under the aegis of the Tax Administrators eXchange of Global Innovative Practices, a peer-learning network of tax administrators. The event will be hosted by experts from the Public Sector Performance division of the practice.

Procurement is an essential aspect of World Bank operations and international development projects worldwide. The World Bank’s policy on procurement encourages the use of country systems in procurement implementation process while ensuring the consistency with the Bank’s regulations .

Making procurement information publicly available promotes openness and transparency and creates a level playing field for bidders. This, in turn, fosters competition and potentially decreases corruption risks.

With this in mind, World Bank teams in East Asia and the Pacific successfully collaborated with government procurement agencies to increase and improve the publication of procurement information and to pilot e-procurement portals for Bank-funded operations.

The following story shares our experiences and successes in both China and Vietnam.

In keeping with recent global trends in the procurement arena, the World Bank is transforming and modernizing its procurement framework.

In the private sector, companies have long viewed maximizing of supply chains as key to healthier bottom lines. In the public sector, many governments have been moving from overly rule-based procurement systems to systems that focus on performance and achievement of development goals.

Improving services for the bottom 40 percent of the population requires more than policy reforms and capacity building. The Inclusive Growth conference suggested that Bank operations may need to further encourage transparency of state performance, help internalize citizen feedback in the public sector, and empower local leaders to experiment and inspire others.

Overjoyed at the emergency rehabilitation of Bauerfield International Airport, Vanuatu’s gateway for travelers, Linda Kalpoi, the general manager of the Vauatu Tourism Office, was in buoyant spirits as she attended the May 6 ceremony announcing the repair’s completion.

Vanuatu yearned for good news. Still recovering from Cyclone Pam’s devastation in March 2015, it was hit by political turmoil after the unprecedented conviction of 14 members of Parliament in October 2015. Then, on January 22, 2016 – the same day Ni-Vanuatu citizens were casting ballots for a snap election – Air New Zealand suspended flights due to safety concerns over the runway condition. Qantas and Virgin Australia followed suit a week later. With only a few airlines still operating, the country lost a sizeable chunk of international tourists.

Airport planning in Vanuatu has long been fraught with differing opinions and priorities. Multiple governments with conflicting visions for developing international air transport, as well frequent changes to the staff and leadership of Airports Vanuatu Ltd (AVL), had left the runway in critical need of repair.

Also available in Spanish
Surya and Saraswati Adhikari on their biodiverse farm, Nepal.
Photo credit: Bioversity International/J. Zucker
The Himalayan mountain village of Begnas sits in a valley rich in agricultural biodiversity. Altitudes range from 600 to 1,400 metres above sea level, with the landscape home to a combination of wetlands, forests, rice terraces and grazing areas. There are two freshwater lakes, Lake Rupa and Lake Begnas, which provide irrigation, important habitats for wildlife and support small-scale fish-farming activities.

I recently visited one of Bioversity International’s project sites in Begnas, where I met farming couple, Surya and Saraswati Adhikari. They proudly showed me around their biodiverse farm, pointing out some of the 150 plant species they grow and explaining that each one has a specific use. They showed me the vegetables, rice, gourds and legumes they grow to eat and sell; the trees that provide fruits, fodder and fuel, and the many herbs for medicinal and cultural purposes.

From time to time, everyone encounters sleek products whose form seems to eclipse their function—an image-heavy website that fails to provide basic information, or a shiny gadget with an all-too-brief usable life. Many of us are occasionally guilty of creating such products, but we also shouldn’t underestimate the importance of design, especially when trying to reach a general audience with an initiative or service.